The Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) on Thursday said the FIR against its Delhi chief Saurabh Bharadwaj and two other party leaders over a Christmas skit shows that the BJP is on the back foot on the pollution issue and that the "Sanghi propaganda" is exposed.

A complaint was filed alleging that the skit, performed in November, outraged the religious feelings of the Christian community as Santa Claus is a "revered religious and cultural icon."

Burari MLA Sanjeev Jha and AAP leader Adil Ahmad Khan were also named in the case.

Bharadwaj took to X, alleging that the BJP was on the back foot over the pollution issue and the Aravallis, and that its workers were posing as Christians, claiming hurt religious sentiments.

The complaint, submitted by advocate Khushboo George, alleged that the three leaders uploaded videos of the skit on their official social media handles on December 17 and 18.

Hitting back at the BJP, Bharadwaj said the FIR reflected the power of social media.

"An FIR has been filed against Santa Claus's skit. Thanks to social media and your collective strength, the BJP is quite worried today. This is the power of social media that the BJP government is being forced to respond to pollution, and there's discussion happening on AQI," he said in a post in Hindi on X.

Bharadwaj added that through the skit, the pollution issue was brought to the masses. "This is the power of social media that the government has been put on the back foot over the Aravalli mountain range," he wrote.

He also said the BJP was on the defensive over the Kuldeep Singh Sengar case and the Ankita Bhandari case from Uttarakhand.

"Now, there's a round of intimidation, threats, ED, CBI, and Delhi Police FIRs underway. The Sanghis' propaganda is now being exposed, so they're scared. We still need to expose them more and scare them even further," he said.

"When Santa Claus's caps were yanked off in Lajpat Nagar, Delhi, they were threatened and chased away with abuses, but then no BJP Christian worker's religious sentiments were hurt," he added.

Referring to the complainant, Bharadwaj said, "people whose religious sentiments are hurt are the same people who are frequently associated with the BJP."

In response, Delhi BJP spokesperson Praveen Shankar Kapoor said it made no difference whether the complainant was a BJP sympathiser.

The skit itself, posted by Bharadwaj on November 17, showed him announcing that the Air Quality Index (AQI) at Connaught Place had reached 376. Moments later, a man dressed as Santa Claus collapses dramatically while passers-by watch.

Bharadwaj quipped in Hindi, "Oh my God, 376 sunke Santa behosh ho gaye (Santa fainted hearing that the AQI has hit 376)."

The complaint claims the skit mocked Santa Claus, a revered figure linked to Saint Nicholas and Christmas, and that visuals of mock CPR performed on the man amounted to ridicule of a religious symbol just ahead of Christmas.

A police officer said, "The contents of the complaint and the material submitted are being verified. Further action will be taken as per law."